The Reliance of Oneself: Journey of a Lone-Wolf
by The Leader of Monkeys
Summary: AU. After seeing what his existence brings to those dear to him, the once humble child now haughty teenager closed himself off from his family, vowing to the heavens he would only rely on his own power & would carry his own burdens. Can his sister recreate the bridge between himself and his heart he'd so utterly eradicated? Warning! Eventual IchigoxYuzu
1. Do What You Want

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach **

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**The Reliance of Oneself: Journey of a Lone-Wolf**

The darkness of the night was lit up by the many street lights of Karakura Town. Up above it would mesmerize people watching the majestic lights offer their guidance to the civilians of Karakura Town and show them a clear path to their destination. A lady, above all else, stood out on the tall lamp post calmly observing the town as if she was its swore protector.

"The night feels so calm and gives off a tranquillity feeling even as beings with skull-shaped masks stalk their prey hoping to complete their evolution. This is where a shinigami comes in; warriors of a higher plateau, assigned to this small town to assure its people don't get devoured by hollows."

The petite woman with her longish black hair coming to her shoulders, a strand of her hair hanging in between her violet eyes, leaped elegantly from the lamp-post as if she were an angel wearing a black shihakusho held closed by a white obi tied around her waist, wooden sandals on her feet, and a katana sheathed to her hip.

"I feel its presence."

**Chapter One **

**Do What You Want – Whenever You Want **

Tobacco smoke flowed smoothly up to the sky from a four story high building known as Karakura High School. The smoke was coming from the very highest place that was the rooftop, and it was being smoked by a tallish boy with bright spiky orange hair and hazel eyes holding the coldness of that of a veteran warrior.

His attire consisted of a black dress shirt which was tucked into his black trousers; both were complemented by a pair of black shoes on his feet and sunglasses of the same colour over his hazel eyes. His back rested casually against the wall of Karakura High School's rooftop while the cigarette hung loosely from his index and middle fingers, both of which formed a scissors-shape so the boy could smoke his cigarette better.

Most noticeable item on the boy would happen to be the strange silver-coloured cross dangling from his right wrist and what appeared to be a kendo stick of sorts since he was holding something neatly concealed in a brown bag tied at both ends in his free hand. Whatever was in his grip, it was what made the boy truly shine.

"Bored." The boy groaned before inhaling more smoke from his cigarette. "Heh. Perhaps those heartless bitches will provide a worthy challenge for me after school." And the delinquent-boy wasn't exactly talking about the other hoodlums around town since he'd already turned them (most of them) black and blue. No. He was referring to the creatures that could be considered the devil's minions, all of which wanted to absorb him into their beings to gain his power.

It was partly the reason why he chose to live on his own and rely only on himself, because this was the kind of boy he was. He was a loner, a lone-wolf, swore to carry his own burdens and even others if the need arises. He was very strong-willed and honourable in that sense.

The orange haired boy was broken out of his musings by the turning of the doorknob.

He didn't blink an eye as the door came open and in walked a bespectacled boy of average-height with dark blue hair falling to his shoulders, two bangs of his hair framed his oval-shaped face and he wore a white dress shirt complete with a blue and yellow striped tie around his neck, grey trousers keeping his shirt neatly tucked in them, a pair of brown shoes on his feet, and a black business bag dangling from his shoulder completed the boy's appearance.

The orange spiky haired boy sucked his teeth cheekily, his head banging against the wall in exasperation, "Tch. Did the teachers send you scurrying up here Uryu?"

The boy, Uryu Ishida, turned to look at the orange haired boy before correcting his glasses, "What do you think?" He got nothing other than smoke blowing upward from the kid's mouth after the boy had released his inhale. "I hardly think your father would want you skipping class, do you Kurosaki?"

"Like I care." The Kurosaki descendant murmured grumpily.

"Hmph. You should care. You disgrace the honour of the Quincy by acting like a run of the mill hoodlum." Uryu told his cousin. He took great pride in his race and believed his cousin should do the same. He began to resent him all the more once the boy declared his desire to rely solely on his aura, (the power in use known as reiatsu), against any hollow foolish enough to challenge him.

The boy exclaimed the Quincy-way of fighting didn't suit him. There was only one technique the kid liked and that was only because it allowed him to move at speeds invisible to the naked eye. Ichigo was his name and speed was his game. But in despite of his personal gripe he had with his Quincy powers, Ichigo still was one… just not a pure bloodied one. He held the proof of his Quincy-heritage on his right wrist as did Uryu.

"Argh, not this speech again," Ichigo grumbled. "You're just jealous 'cause I whoop your ass every time we spar, cuz."

Uryu fixed his glasses, "The phrase you were looking for is 'gain the upper hand over me due to the slight advantage in the absurd amount of reiatsu (spiritual pressure) you have. It enables you to fight like a wild animal rather than a grace of a highly skilled warrior, Kurosaki. And it's _because _and _cousin. _Please refrain from using such words in my presence. Such words are the sign of a common riff-raff, truly unbefitting of a Quincy."

A scowl of annoyance sat itself on Ichigo's face at his cousin's condescending explanation. He always had to make himself feel superior in some-way even when he knew deep down he was inferior to Ichigo and his huge reserves of reiatsu he obtained from a combination of his blood through his parents and years of intensive training.

Ichigo could haughtily say with gusto that his reserves were on a S-class level. Unfortunately, he would have to tone down his arrogance to confess that he had high B-class or low A-class control of his power, but day by day he was working on improving that.

"Whatever." Ichigo groused.

Uryu held his nose in the air, "Hmph. I don't have all day standing around speaking to ungrateful and ignorant 'warriors' whom don't know the superior strength of the Quincy, you ought to know. Are you coming along to class or not?" The bangs of Ichigo's hair shadowed his eyes.

"Does it matter to you Mister-Know-It-All?"

"Point taken." Uryu declared as he spun around to head back out of the door, "Just don't hate on me because my intelligence is infinitely higher than yours, Kurosaki. As shown on the school test results. Who was ranked highest again?" Ichigo let the silence answer Uryu's question, "Thought so. Do me a favour and stay out of my way. The last thing I need is a hoodlum with a subpar intelligence level slowing me down in all aspects." With that Uryu trotted off in all his haughtiness, missing the comical angry face Ichigo made at him as if he was mimicking him.

"That guy really grinds my gears," Ichigo growled savagely to himself. Uryu Ishida was up there on Ichigo's list of most hated people… family or not. He wasn't particularly fond of Uryu's father either, but he did what he felt was necessary after _that _day, six years ago from today. It changed him for the better if you asked Ichigo.

He saw the world in a different light and discovered it wasn't a happy place where peace reigned supreme. Honestly, peace didn't freaking exist in this monster littered world. This was a world where the weak got eaten and only the strongest survived. With such fiendish creatures crawling around Karakura Town it was of no wonder why Ichigo chose the training he endured under the guidance of his uncle.

Especially when one considered the fact Ichigo was almost the cause of such a tragedy.

"I'm outta here." Ichigo groused, not wanting to think of the memories of his past. The memories which made him into the boy, the extremely powerful boy, he was as of today, "I don't need work and school in the same day," Ichigo finished the last bit of his cigarette, dropping the bud, stepping on it with his foot nonchalantly, and walking out of the door leading to the rooftop of his school.

XxX

And out of school Ichigo went as the boy rubbed his neck in a tired manner, "Tch. School. What a waste of my time." Ichigo simply made his trek through the busy streets of Karakura Town, occasionally stopping to buy himself a can of soda and a bar of chocolate from the shop.

He only stopped again once he found himself walking through an alleyway littered with graffiti on the walls, and a group of older boys who attended the high school not too far away from Karakura High School all looking at him with smirks on their faces.

"Kurosaki! We've been waiting for you. We wanna rematch with you!" One of the delinquents shouted while cracking his knuckles, his nine friends all doing likewise as they nodded their heads in agreement with him.

A look of annoyance was on Ichigo's face. "Shouldn't the trash-men be doing this shit?" Ichigo quipped irritatingly and the hoodlums fumed.

"We'll see how cool you are after we mess you up!" A boy assured and the others roared in agreement with him. The boys then charged Ichigo while roaring belligerently, thunderously making the noise equivalent to that of an elephant stampede echo throughout the air due to the loudness of their charge toward Ichigo.

Ichigo chucked his brown bag up in the air, "Let's get this over with." Vanishing speedily, Ichigo reappeared in front of the delinquents with his arm thrown over his shoulder and his leg held back. It took little more than a second for the frozen faced boys to register the immense pain they had received which sent them launching into the air while screaming painstakingly.

Ichigo stood up, dusting himself off composedly. His hand then reached upward where he caught his brown bag with the skill of a swordsman, "As if you fools ever had a chance against me."

The teenagers groaned in pain after crashing on the floor with a resounding thud, "He's strong." One of them wailed while the others just whimpered. Ichigo sauntered away from them as if he had never even been there in the first place.

As Ichigo rounded couple of more corners, hopped on two buses using his bus pass, he eventually started nearing Bowery, a cheap area where guys like him go to live because they were too poor to live anyway else. The haughty boy didn't even flinch upon entering a dirty alleyway, and hearing a gravelly voice echoing from the walls.

"**Hmm. Mmm. Look what we have here boys, a tasty meal already made for us to feast on." **

"**Indeed. I believe I'm gonna enjoy snacking on him."**

"**Don't get greedy now, brother. You should share him with the rest of us."**

Ichigo watched stoically while three creatures with white skull-shaped masks on their faces, coal blackened skins, bodies shaped in the form of ghosts, and holes where their hearts should be wandered out of the shadows. The beings had no sclera or even pupils, but instead their eyes gave off the appearance of two black holes which gleamed a blood red colour in them.

"Guess I could do with a stress relief." Ichigo said, setting himself in a stance with his brown bag held in front of himself.

The creatures thought he was having a laugh since there was no way a mere human could defeat them, "**Haha! As if a mere human could defeat us hollows. You'll be a part of our beings soon enough you foolish human."**

"Aww. What's wrong?" Ichigo mocked with a smirk on his face. "Don't hollows go after their most cherish people they made during the times when they were alive? What happened? Did mama not love ya enough?" That was true.

Ichigo had that info broken down to him by his old man. Hollows were once earth bound spirits who couldn't pass on for one reason or the next and ended up becoming a hollow after their Chains of Fate eventually withered away into nothing or other hollows devoured them, thus turning them into hollows.

From there the spirits-turned-hollows would rummage through the World of the Living in search of the people they loved most before becoming what they were to fill the emptiness in their hearts.

The hollows were furious at Ichigo's taunting, "**Don't you dare mock us you disgusting human!"**

Ichigo chuckled unmercifully, preceding to further angrier the hollows, "**DON'T LAUGH AT US, YOU HUMAN! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT! YOU'RE NOTHING TO US, BUT OUR MEAL! GET THAT STRAIGHT!" **One of the hollows bellowed at Ichigo, charging at the cocky warrior. A powerful breeze shot past the hollow, followed by a shower of blood and an inhuman arm flying through the air.

"**Aaaaaaaahhhh**!" The hollow roared as it fell to its knees, leaving its brothers speechless. Both of them had dropped jaws before quickly pinpointing Ichigo's location. The orange haired boy stood off at the side with a samurai sword of average-length in his grip, the hilt was shaped like a dragon and the silver blade itself had the kanji-markings for "one who protects" embedded across it.

"**You!" **One of the two remaining hollows growled hatefully at Ichigo.

"Me." Ichigo said as if he hadn't essentially cut down the hollow's brother in cold blood. It was still alive but only barely, "Not even warmed-up yet. Heh. How disappointing…"

The hollows were shaking with fury at being toyed with by a mere _human! _Not even a disgusting shinigami; it was a _human _for crying out loud. There was no way a _human _could have this kind of immense _power! _No! They wouldn't believe it! This _thing _before them was not a human! _It _must have been some kind of entity.

"**I don't know what you are but you're not a human. No human could possess your kind of immense power! You hear me!" **The other hollow roared.

A cocky grin spread itself across Ichigo's features, "Bingo. Give the geniuses a prize for hitting the nail on the head. Heh." Ichigo quipped, slamming one leg forward while adjusting the other one backward. His samurai sword was shoved outward in his right grip, his left arm held above his head.

"**You were right brother. He isn't a human. Then just what is he?" **The hollow asked its brother only to get a look of shock on its face as an aura of green powerfully shrouded Ichigo's body, cracking the walls venomously while the ground underneath his feet shattered as if the earth couldn't sustain the weight of Ichigo.

"**W-What is this power?" **One of the hollows stammered, seeing what appeared to be a dragon entity taking shape around Ichigo. The boy opened up his eyes, showing them the change in colour. His sclera was green with no visible pupils, just like the powerful spirit coming forth from his body of his will.

"**Mokushiroku no Inshō-Tekina Ryū (Striking Dragon of the Apocalypse)**," Ichigo announced, unleashing an unfinished version of his most destructive attack to date on the hollows so he wouldn't end up eradicating them from existence and annihilating a building or two in the process. The hollows screamed as the dragon-entity conjured up by Ichigo's power stream-rolled through them, tearing their bodies asunder while releasing a cry of terror before flying into the sky, and roofing it apart.

"Hmph. They go down like cockroaches." Ichigo whispered, seeing the hollows lifelessly drop onto the ground like two broken toys, "Heh. I feel somewhat better if only slightly. Still I'd have much preferred it if they actually put up a fight." Such was the burden of being classed as a low A-class warrior.

There was barely anyone on his level capable of giving him a good fight.

"Halt hollow in the name of the Soul Society!" Ichigo turned an uninterested eye onto the voice of a commanding woman to see a cute girl dressed in a black shihakusho waving a katana with a white ribbon tied on the end of it. The pretty girl blinked her eyes, spotting the unconscious hollows on the ground but not quite believing what she was seeing, 'Is… this for real? How could three hollows of this magnitude be taken down so easily?'

The woman shifted her gaze to the orange haired boy holding a samurai sword in his grip, looking anywhere but in her direction, "Could he have done it?' The woman shook her head, "No. That's impossible. He's only a human. But then again, he has that sword in his grip, and the way he carries himself speaks volumes."

"You sure took your sweet time." Ichigo spoke out loud with the woman looking confused.

"Can he see me?" She asked herself. Her eyes blinked when the boy seemingly disappeared as if he had been a figure of her imagination.

"Y'know it's rude to ignore someone when they're talking to you, right?" The woman flinched and spun around to see Ichigo standing behind her holding his blade on his shoulder, a cocky smile forming across his face at seeing the shocked expression on her face from witnessing his speed.

The woman's eyes narrowed, "Who are you? You can obviously see me so that means you've got an exceptional amount of reiryoku?"

"Pushy, are we?" Ichigo trolled with a chuckle that made the woman growl at him.

"I asked you a question! What the hell are you and how did you manage to subdue those hollows?" The woman demanded.

"Hmph. Not one for manners, huh? Showing a little proper courtesy by introducing yourself first is generally a good way to meet people. But then again how would I know, I'm not exactly your most beloved guy," Ichigo admitted as if he didn't care that he had little to no friends.

"Fine." The woman relented calmly, "The name's Rukia Kuchiki. Judging by your reaction I take it you've heard of the Soul Society, otherwise known as Heaven to you humans."

"You could say I sniffed around for that info," Ichigo quipped vaguely, confusing Rukia.

"Now then, since I so kindly introduced myself to you, the least you could do is have the same politeness. It's _proper courtesy _after all." Rukia smirked at the scowl that came over Ichigo's face at having his own words thrown back into his face. The black haired girl danced elegantly over to the hollows, slashing their masks clean in half, which immediately made them dispense into small pieces of reishi.

"Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo groused coolly, not even blinking as he saw the woman purify those hollows.

Rukia sheathed her sword away in its scabbard beautifully, "You barely even batted an eyelash while I cleansed those hollows. Furthermore you have knowledge of the Soul Society and a high amount of reiatsu. So, do you mind spilling the beans and telling me who you are?" Rukia asked commandingly, her voice leaving no room for argument.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow, "Tch. If you dunno then I'm not gonna waste my time filling your empty noggin with useless info you won't even understand midget."

Rukia bristled at the cheeky boy, "How dare you! I'll have you know that I'm century years older than you. You better start showing me some respect. You got that bean pole?"

Ichigo gnashed his teeth, "Those are awfully big words for a dwarf."

"Just like how those words are funny and short words coming from the mouth of a bean pole!"

"Dwarf!"

"Bean pole!"

"Dwarf!"

"Bean pole!"

"Dwarf!"

"Bean pole!"

"Dwarf!"

"Bean pole!"

Ichigo felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. He had only just met this woman and already he hated her, "Whatever." Ichigo strolled over to his brown bag and lifted it up with his foot. He put his samurai sword back into the bag. He couldn't be asked to find the elastic bands he used to tighten the bag so he just left them and shifted his bag onto his shoulder.

"I'm outta here." Ichigo told her, beginning to walk away from the woman.

"Hey! Get back here. We're not done here yet!" Rukia shouted, still wanting to know what Ichigo was, but the rude-boy flipped her the-bird sign over his shoulder, "Okay. So we'll have to do this the hard-way." Rukia held her index and middle fingers up, closing her eyes and letting out a small chant, "**First Restraint Obstruction!"**

Ichigo froze mid step, his arms twisting behind his back after Rukia had shot her two fingers outward in his direction, "Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Ichigo grunted angrily, thrashing around to rid himself of the annoying pain on his arms.

"It's futile to resist my kido spell. Don't bother trying. You'll only be putting yourself in more pain." Rukia elucidated calmly. Her eyes widened as a green aura enveloped Ichigo's body, his arms slowly moving from behind his back. "Impossible! No ordinary human or warrior could break out of my kido spell!"

"Arghhhhh!" Ichigo roared, powering his way free via pure physical strength. His face twisted into a cranky expression, his sword coming out of his bag. Rukia hyperventilated, stepping back as the powerful enraged boy made his way toward her, "So you wanna play, eh little girl?" Ichigo's hand raised upwards, his sword in the air while his green aura covered his body once again.

Rukia looked on in fear of Ichigo's power, the weight of his reiatsu dropping on her shoulders slightly, "**Mokushiroku**-." Ichigo stopped himself from erasing Rukia's existence from this world. He could see Rukia hold her eyes shut while clenching her hands into fists as if she had accepted her death.

'Tch. So she doesn't want to rumble huh.' Then he wouldn't exterminate her since it wasn't the honourable thing to do. A true warrior desired a fair fight. They _did not _cold-heartedly slaughter a woman who had her eyes shut. No way, "I'm outta here… for real this time.

Rukia's eyes shot open, "What? Wai-?" Before she could finish her sentence Ichigo vanished as if he had teleported instantaneously, "Damn it. Was that a Shunpo? No. Its sound was different to that of a Shunpo." Rukia mused as she breathed in and out in relief, "This kid… a whole can of worms have been opened up now, because of him. Why'd he spare my life for when he could've quite easily slayed me?"

It hurt Rukia's pride as a shinigami to know a mere being living in the World of the Living could've eradicated her from existence. But even still she was determined to get to the bottom of the enigma that was Ichigo Kurosaki.

"I'll figure you out somehow, Ichigo Kurosaki."


	2. Seeking Warmth in the Blizzard

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach**

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**Chapter 2**

**Seeking Warmth in the Coldness of the Blizzard**

"Argh. Home sweet home, as good as it's gonna get." Ichigo groaned as he swiftly appeared via the high speed Quincy technique known as Hirenkyaku in front of a tall rundown apartment-complex. He was thankful that he was able to convince his parents to loan him some money for the first few weeks of his stay in his home. That didn't essentially mean Ichigo wasn't going to pay them back. Nah. Ichigo paid his debts, whether the loaners were his parents or not.

Ichigo strolled into his apartment-complex after using his patented speed technique to head to the ATM-machine and withdraw himself some cash from it since he needed to pay his rent today. His landlord could be a constant thorn in his side even if he was just a day late to pay his rent.

The guy was not a nice man and that was putting it mildly.

Besides, he had a little stalker trying to pinpoint his location so he needed to throw her off; doing so by concealing his reiatsu-signature the moment he vanished from the ATM-machine to lead her to believe he was somewhere around there only suppressing his power so she wouldn't find him.

"Hm. It still smells like a jail-cell in here." Ichigo grumbled, seeing a wet stain in the corner and automatically knowing without being told that it wasn't water, "And the annual urine is there in the corner. What is this place, a local bathroom free for anyone to use." Ichigo sucked his teeth, shaking his head at his own quip before venturing up stairs to the very top floor of the building.

As Ichigo made it to the top floor of the building, he made his way over to the end of the hall and in front of a door numbered 1000 before he was forced to stop himself from opening it up after he jerked his keys into it; a voice being the reason why Ichigo couldn't enter his apartment.

"Hey. It's nice to see you, Kurosaki-san. I see you're up to your usual quirks of leaving school early, eh." Ichigo looked at an obese man darkly. The man was a tad shorter than Ichigo, had a goatee and a moustache both coloured brown to match his brown hair currently looking on the verge of going grey. He wore a loose-fitting dark red kimono, dark red kimono pants, a black sash tied around his waist, wooden sandals on his feet and a walking stick in his grip.

"Like that's any of your business, old man." Ichigo told him, causing the old man to chuckle.

"Guess not hoodlum. You got my money, because that's as you'd say, _my business_," Ichigo glared at his landlord's smug grin, "Hey, you said it not me. Would you rather you and I talk about school. Okay, let's talk about how you're going to get yourself booted out of it the way you're going boy." He said no more as a wad of bills was flicked coolly into his chest by Ichigo, "Pleasure doing business with you Kurosaki-san."

The landlord grabbed the money and shoved it into his pocket. He then walked into his door numbered 999.

"Yeah. It's a real pleasure jackass." Sarcastic remark aside: Ichigo turned his apartment-key to open his door up, pushing the door inward after sliding the golden doorknob downward only to be left exasperated as his door wouldn't budge.

"He needs to fix this damn door." Ichigo growled, shoulder barging his door open and allowing an army of ants to scurry out of his under furnished apartment. He had neither carpet nor wooden flooring and his walls weren't painted. He did have one black cloth sofa fit for three people to sit on, a small television complete with a clear-view television-set that had an old DVD-player and a few Kung-fu films underneath it. A black cloth recliner for when he was feeling lazy, and a coffee table were other furniture Ichigo had in his living room.

His refrigerator, microwave, kettle, toaster, and oven were all old-fashioned and complemented each other by being coloured black. His kitchen was one with his living room with the door leading to his balcony in the living room part of the room he just walked into via the front door.

He didn't have a washing machine and was forced to clean his clothes at a laundrette on the weekends, because that was the only time he got to do his laundry with being a student and working part-time at a fast-food restaurant at 6:00pm in the afternoon and a security guard come night time on both Saturday and Sunday. His school finished at 3:00pm and it took him two hours to travel from the Suburbs down here to Bowery by buses.

The only other reason why he didn't do his laundry after skipping school was because it was noticeably cheaper on the weekends since the laundrette offered a special offer on Saturdays and Sundays. Unfortunately, most poor people go there to wash their clothes, meaning Ichigo was more often than not there all day.

A Sony stereo complete with speakers was on the floor near the television, a gift he had received for Christmas since there was no way he could afford a stereo that expensive. A few discs were on the speaker along with a pair of headphones.

He had a picture placed on the wall above the television of himself dressed in a blue dragon-patterned kimono-suit sitting on a bench in between two little girls with black and brown hairs respectively, both of which were wearing yellow yukatas. Those cute little girls were Ichigo's adorable little twin sisters Karin and Yuzu Kurosaki. The girls were grinning widely, holding onto their cranky brother's arms in the picture frame.

Behind the three siblings were two adults, one of which was a male while the other was female and a beautiful one at that with long orange hair to boot. The male wore a similar kimono to Ichigo only his was noticeably darker than the boy's, and the female wore a pink yukata and had her hair done up in a single bun for the family portrait.

Ichigo looked at his clock to see the time of 13:34pm, "Argh. I should've walked to the ATM machine. It would've killed some time at least." Ichigo strode over to his stereo, bending down to take out a cd of relaxing tunes to put in one done by the Isley brothers. While the song Footsteps in the Dark was echoing through the air at a moderate volume since the boy was respectable enough to keep the noise down as to not trouble his neighbours, he walked out onto the balcony, staring at the outside world of Bowery.

"This place is a dump," Ichigo murmured, taking out his cigarette box and opening it up to count the number of cigarettes he had left. "Not much, but I can get more after work or on the way there." Ichigo took out one cigarette, placed it in between his lips, tucked his box back into his pocket to replace it with his lighter, brought his lighter to his cigarette, and flared it up while using his free hand to cover it so the wind wouldn't blow the flame out.

After his cigarette was lit up, he inhaled a deep drag of it while putting his lighter away into the front pocket of his shirt, "Ahhhhhh." Ichigo let the smoke out of his mouth and even nose leisurely, he always felt oddly relaxed when he smoked. It was something that always calmed his temper when life had him stressed.

As Ichigo smoked his cigarette while casually eyeing the filthy looking darkened buildings of Bowery, he let his mind wonder with thoughts of slight ambition. Maybe he could move out of this cheapened area, into the Suburbs at the very least, get himself a decent job, and maybe even get himself a nice little apartment.

"Yeah… right. Like I can do anything other than take orders and dish out beatings." Ichigo said, referring to his two jobs as a cashier and a security guard. As the hours rolled on with Ichigo continuing to stare out into the open, his mind already coming to the conclusion why a slight part of him wanted a life in the Suburbs even after his cigarette was finished; a knock at his door brought him out of his musings.

He switched off his stereo system and trotted coolly over to the door, cracking it open ever so slightly to reveal a woman and a small girl of twelve years old.

The petite girl had a pair of innocent brown eyes looking mirthfully at Ichigo. She had shoulder-length light brown hair with a bang of her hair covering the right side of her forehead and a strawberry-style hairclip was placed on the left side of her hair. She was wearing a white shirt, a brown skirt reaching her ankles, black socks, and a pair of sandals on her feet.

In her hands was a carrier bag she was cuddling.

Next to her was a beautiful woman who had long darkish orange hair, a gorgeous pair of brown eyes shining with mirth at Ichigo, and her skin was peached like the orange haired boy's. A lot of her features distinctively bared a resemblance to Ichigo's.

A pink blouse hugged her hour-glass figure. A brown skirt covered her long legs a little shorter than Ichigo's. A black handbag was draped over her shoulder and black high heels neatly provided support for her stride to Ichigo's place. Her breasts were a modest size of D-cup as her lips majestically painted with pink lipstick curved outward into a smile at seeing Ichigo.

"Mamma, Yuzu," Ichigo identified the duo calmly, fully opening the door to get a good look at them.

"Onii-sama!" Yuzu said brightly, jumping forward and wrapping her arms around her brother's torso. How she loved her brother dearly, and wished he hadn't moved out. But she understood that he was growing older and as such desired his own space.

"Hm." Ichigo patted his attention seeking little sister on her head. He had to glare at his mother when she gave him a teasing smile. Oh why did she have to courage Yuzu to shower him with affections, almost like she wanted Ichigo to baby her. Yuzu still hadn't gotten out of the sitting on Ichigo's lap phrase and had been doing so since she was six years old.

He used to play with her a lot as he did with his other sister Karin. Naturally the two developed something akin to obsession with Ichigo, although Karin hid it significantly better than Yuzu.

"And how's our Ichi-chan doing today? I hope you don't remind us paying you a visit hun." Ichigo's mother, Masaki Kurosaki, the cause of his Quincy blood flowing his veins, smiled innocently at him.

"Hm. Fine. I got work in the next two hours," Ichigo said.

Masaki placed her hands on her hips, "Who do you think I am Ichi-chan? I know your routine like any good momma would." Masaki explained jestingly, causing Yuzu to giggle in her brother's stomach, "Yuzu-chan was dying to see her best big brother, right dear?"

"Yes momma." Yuzu blushed, thankful her brother couldn't see the redness on her cheeks as she mumbled her answer to their momma.

"Hm." Ichigo hummed in indifference. "Good to know, sis."

"Yeah." Yuzu said softly, looking up at Ichigo with big brown eyes, "You're my onii-sama so I always want to be around you and make you happy."

"Hm. I'm happy." Ichigo insisted, 'As happy as living in a shithole can be.' Ichigo mused before speaking out loud again, "You don't have to worry about me." Yuzu hummed a little embarrassingly, while Masaki gave Ichigo a smile of optimism. Optimistic about what Ichigo didn't know.

"Okay, Yuzu-chan. That's enough. Don't hog Ichi-chan all to yourself." Masaki joked, causing a darker tinge of red to glow on Yuzu's cheeks. The girl begrudgingly pushed herself away from her brother, giving him a small bow.

"Sorry onii-sama, sorry momma."

"Don't worry about it." Ichigo dismissed it in all his aloofness.

"You see how kind your brother is, dear? He can't stay mad at his family. Well except for maybe your father," Masaki said jestingly, earning a tentative nod from Yuzu who lowered her head to her toes, the bag hanging loosely in her grip while she missed the grumpy stare Ichigo sent at their mother, "I'm glad we came down to see you hun. It's always nice to have a reminder that your family's always here for you."

Masaki stepped forward, swinging her arms around Ichigo's neck and pecking him on his cheek which he returned with one of his own on her cheek. Masaki's nose then crinkled in curiosity, a grimace coming over her face at the foul stench coming off of Ichigo, "You've been smoking again haven't you hun?"

"Hm."

"I think onii-sama just wants to relax like daddy does when he smokes," Yuzu defended her brother's bad negatives, looking up at her mommy with a pout. "Onii-sama makes his own money, so onii-sama can spend it on whatever he wants."

Masaki chuckled in an easy-going manner, "That's true sweetie. He's at least setting a few right examples for you and Karin-chan by taking responsibility of looking after himself by getting himself two jobs, and getting himself a flat… even if he doesn't live in the nicest of areas." Yuzu hummed sweetly, as Masaki looked at Ichigo, "So can we come in hun?"

"Hm." Ichigo took a step backward, then to the side to prop himself up against the door to allow entrance to his place to his precious mother and sister, "By all means, do come in. It's not like I was planning to rob a bank or something."

"If you were half as smart as your mouth is, you'd be a professor instead of a boy with tardiness." Masaki said in an attempt to wind-up her son, a mission she succeeded at as he frowned in annoyance.

"How'd you know I skipped school?"

"Because you just told me sweetie." Ichigo groaned as he walked over to his sofa and sat his backside on it. He cursed himself for falling into that one. Or maybe it was just because he could never lie to his mother and/or his sisters.

Yuzu sat the bag down on the table before looking at her brother with a beaming smile on her features, "School's really easy for Karin-chan and I onii-sama. Tukiyo-sensei says we'll be in University any day now!" Her eyes practically sparkled in eager anticipation of her brother's congratulations.

Yuzu wasn't to be left disappointed as Ichigo curved half of his lips in a faint smile of pride, "Good. Both of you should keep at it you hear me?" Yuzu nodded her head, a blush adorning her features from being praised by her brother, with Ichigo not noticing the redness on his sister's cheeks as his gaze was set on the bag on the kitchen counter, "Hey. What's in the bag?"

Ridding herself of her blush, Yuzu smiled and took out a big container made to carry just what was in it, food, "Momma and I made you your favourite meal, Spaghetti Bolognese onii-sama." She could see her onii-sama's posture immediately stiffen while his eyes went wide. That lasted a minute because Ichigo smiled coolly at his sister.

"Alright. Way to bring the goods into this crap house." Ichigo quipped with his arms held over his chest.

"Mind your language dear." Masaki chided the boy, making him roll his eyes at her.

"Well… thanks for making the meal I value above other ones." Ichigo said.

"Oh. Well momma did most of the work. I only handed her a couple of spices and ingredients." Yuzu rushed to set the record straight humbly, causing her mother to clump her hands onto her hips as she wanted to coo at her sweet daughter's modest.

"Nonsense! Ichi-chan, don't listen to this little genius here. She was right by the stove cutting up vegetables, stirring the mince, adding flavour to it, slicing up peppers because she knew you liked your food spicy, and boiling hot water to prepare the pasta all at the same time. Yuzu-chan's got quite the knack at multitasking." Masaki was simply not willing to let her daughter brush off her own hard work she put into making her brother his favourite meal as she enthusiastically let the truth be known to Ichigo.

Yuzu pushed her index fingers together, "I just did what you told me to do, momma."

"Appreciate it." Ichigo assured her, causing Yuzu to hum while she bowed her head to him.

"Why don't you heat-up Ichi-chan's food in the microwave, dear? Momma needs to talk to him alone for a bit and make sure he's alright." Masaki spoke suggestively, referring to herself in the first person cheerfully.

Yuzu gave her mother a tentative nod, a worried expression on her face that Ichigo didn't miss, "It's no biggie. Really. Mamma probably just wants to nosy in on my business to assure that I have my finances in order." Ichigo reassured her in his usual nonchalance as he stood up and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Okay, if you say so onii-sama." Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the slight sad sigh which escaped Yuzu's mouth. The girl turned to the side to the kitchen-counter while Masaki walked over to him, gently placing her hand on his arm, and ushering him to the balcony after lipping the words, 'Come on' to Ichigo.

After they stepped out onto the balcony, Masaki shut the doors to the balcony so they could have some privacy, "You know, she really misses you, hun." Masaki said, hugging her frame as the cold wind of the outside world penetrated her skin.

"Hm." A frown came over Ichigo's face. "So what? It's not like I can do everything other than come around by Sundays and Saturdays to spend time with her." Yuzu and Karin were the reason why Ichigo contemplated getting a job and an apartment in the Suburbs so he could be closer to them, but then again he wasn't going to take the risk of putting them in danger of being eaten by hollows.

Masaki shook her head at Ichigo's faked coldness to hide his true caring nature to his sister Yuzu, "Y'know you could always move back in with us." A groan of annoyance sliced through the air from Ichigo, "You're still a growing boy, Ichigo. You could accomplish so much more if you come home to stay with us."

"The past isn't an easy thing to erase as it's as easy to simply delete files off of a computer's system." Ichigo remarked cryptically, but Masaki knew very well what he was going on about. The feeling of utter helplessness, the knowledge that you were a burden to those you care about, and the guilty feeling which tortured one's conscious to know and to have to endure that one had almost eradicated one's parent was a traumatizing experience for anyone to have to bear.

It was made especially worse when the one whom was scarred for life was no more but a mere nine year old child.

"You should let go of the past hun. You can't fear it otherwise you'll continue to close yourself off from your family instead of cherishing them like you should do." Masaki explained in an almost pleading fashion to get her son to drop his self-reliance nature.

Ichigo propped his elbow on the railing to cup his chin in his hand, "I don't feel like turning back now. Besides, don't all parents eventually let their off-springs flap their wings and fly away into the open world? Heh. I just took flight earlier than the rest." Ichigo quipped crudely, "I'm more or less considered a grown man now. I will be held account for my own actions if I happen to get myself in trouble, as I really don't wish to trouble anyone with my burdens."

Masaki sighed at her stubborn son's firm stance on his life, "At least try to not neglect Yuzu-chan," Masaki casted a look at her daughter by looking through the window to see her waiting for Ichigo's food to finish heating in the microwave after she got a plate from the boy's cupboard and served some of it on the plate, "Isshin and I can hear it in her voice. She misses you and wants you to come home Ichi-chan. She never stops talking about you."

"Hm." Ichigo took it all in with a straightforward look on his face. "I'll talk to her more if it helps."

"Yep, any interaction Yuzu-chan has with her onii-sama will be like the equivalent of winning the lottery, Ichi-chan!" Masaki insisted cheerfully, clapping her hands together while Ichigo nodded to end that subject for the time being.

"So how was school today, hun? Did you and Uryu-kun get along?" Masaki asked hopefully.

Her hopes were dashed by a snort which came from Ichigo who decided to answer her question with one of his own, "Do cats and dogs get along?"

Masaki didn't answer it. Cats and dogs were natural born enemies like Ichigo and Uryu were after the day of the latter's own horrific experience.

Masaki released a sigh from her lips, "What happened to you two? You used to be should good friends when you were both younger. Now you both squabble back and forth like children. It isn't nice y'know."

"Tell it to Mr Big 'cause I ain't the reason for his sudden showcase of douchebaggery. You wanna know something; he came scurrying up to the rooftop to suggest that I attend class. Tch. What a joke. He probably just wants to make himself look good to the teachers." Ichigo remarked.

"Actually, what Uryu-kun's doing will only benefit him in the near future, Ichi-chan, since the teachers can offer him a reference filled with mostly praise when he starts handing out CVs and filling application forms to companies willing to hire new employees. Hey, maybe he wants that same success for you."

"Tch. Doubt it." Ichigo said and Masaki sighed. Boys will be boys. She only hoped that the boys could rectify their annoyances for each other and be the good friends that they were when the two were eleven years old.

Ichigo decided to change the subject.

"I ran into a shinigami today." Ichigo admitted spontaneously, causing Masaki's eyes to widen as her posture immediately stiffened.

"What? What happened between you and the shinigami? You didn't get hurt did you?" Masaki asked worriedly.

Ichigo scoffed with his nose in the air, "As if a midget with a blade had the chance to harm me. I put her in her place after she demanded I tell her what I am after I knocked-out some weak ass hollows."

Masaki breathed a sigh of relief, "It must've been a new shinigami. I'm pretty sure the well-known shinigami would know about us Quincy, at least that's what Isshin says."

"Yeah, not that I used my Quincy-powers barring Hirenkyaku." Ichigo said, making his mamma frown. She would've preferred it if he used his all of Quincy-powers. That was what his training with Ryuken was for, so he could be a proficient Quincy. However, he was still a supremely powerful warrior even without the use of his Quincy-powers. He even made his own unique techniques.

"I think she doesn't know of the Quincy too. Still I'll give the girl points for her doggedness, because she's been trying to sniff-out my reiatsu-signature ever since I left her a few hours ago like a bloodhound. Don't worry; I've been suppressing my power for hours now. I'm done with her. I don't remember people who I greatly outclass in every way possible." Ichigo abruptly spun back around just as the double door opened up to reveal Yuzu, earning a gasp from Masaki who was quite startled by her daughter's sudden appearance.

"Your dinner's all heated up, onii-sama. Come eat it before it gets cold again." Yuzu smiled.

"Sure." Ichigo walked into his living room/kitchen after Yuzu had and Masaki followed suit.

"What were you two talking about?" Yuzu asked.

"Just what I told you she would ask before walking out there. C'mon sis, you can't tell me your knowledge littered-brain let a tinsy bit of info slip through its defences." The smart-mouthed boy said teasingly, grinning at Yuzu who pouted at him with her hands on her hips.

"You can be such a big meanie, onii-sama."

"It's like your mouth's getting ready to graduate University, hun."

"Hmph. Then I'm sure my mouth will be rolling around in the money soon." Ichigo groused sarcastically, seeing his trey of food on his lazy-boy chair, the hot stream of the Spaghetti and Bolognese showing him the way to heavenly goodness, "Let's see what I got here." Ichigo grinned, resisting the urge to drool while walking over to the lazy boy chair and lifting up his trey.

As he sat himself on his chair, he stalled to put the trey on his lap as someone wanted that VIP seat for herself, "Can I sit on your lap, onii-sama?" Yuzu asked meekly, standing in front of Ichigo, "Please." She added softly on the end.

Ichigo looked over at Masaki to see her giving him an expectant look with an eyebrow raised as if to say, "Go on."

Ichigo raised his trey above his head, "Sure." Ichigo accepted and Yuzu smiled brightly, leaning forward to catch Ichigo's nose in a kiss before turning her body to the side and lifting up her body to place her rear-end on Ichigo's legs, her legs dangling off of the arm-rest. "Hm." Ichigo felt something stick to his cheek, not blinking as Yuzu moaned happily into the peck she had given him.

"You're the best onii-sama ever for letting me have the best seat in your home." Yuzu smiled, allowing Ichigo to rest his trey on her stomach so he could begin to devour his dinner while she innocently straddled on his lap.

'Oh Ichi-chan…' Masaki sighed as she sat herself on Ichigo's sofa, wholeheartedly watching her daughter sitting on his lap like she was still a baby and being reminded of the times when Ichigo would play with her and Karin, always putting a smile on their faces with his big grin. 'Come back to us hun. Be the boy you once were. The boy who Yuzu-chan loves…'

Because then they could be a family again.


	3. A Beam a Day Keeps The Hollows Away

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. If I did own Bleach then Ichigo would've gotten some pussy by now. He can't be a virgin for this long damn it. **

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**A Beam a Day Keeps The Hollows Away**

As the hours passed by, the sun eventually made its descent downward and lit the sky in a blazing orange colour which continued to get darker by the second. Roars of anguish tore through the troubled area of Bowery, followed by sickly black blood spraying everywhere as a little black haired lady sliced and diced her way through three low D-class hollows while doggedly searching for Ichigo.

"Where the hell is that idiot?" Rukia asked belligerently, stomping around Bowery in search of the orange haired boy, "How can he continue to conceal such a huge amount of reiatsu from my senses?" Rukia stressed, conjuring up spirit ribbons in a bid to location Ichigo's, but came up short again. Rukia breathed in and out while she sweated heavily due to the work of purifying those hollows.

"Damn it. I'm getting tired." Rukia huffed intensely, falling onto her knees with her sword held in front of her face as if it was a walking stick helping her stride forward, "No! I won't give up until I find that idiot!" Rukia shouted determinedly, pushing herself up using her willpower, "What would nii-sama think of me if he saw me in such a pitiful state? I've got to show him I can handle this simple patrol job!"

As she trudged on a little further, digging her sword into the ground as if she was in the desert, she flinched upon hearing the sadistic, raspy voice of a being emitting nothing but pure malevolence. Rukia hesitatingly turned around, cursing her luck at the sight of a centipede-like hollow with its diamond-shaped white mask covering its face and yellow gleams in the black voids it called eyes. The most unusual trait about the hollow was its blackish-purple orb shining in the centre of its tummy.

"**Not what I was expecting, but I'll take it nonetheless," **The hollow accepted Rukia as its meal, "**Mmmmmm. You've been elegantly prepared haven't you, my cute little meal. Aww. You're scowl makes you look all the more delicious."**

"This isn't what I needed now," Rukia spat before lowering her voice to a whisper, "I've barely got any reiatsu left after taking out those other hollows," Rukia was not a reiatsu-powerhouse like _some _warriors were.

"**Oh. So it appears you're all dried up. Well isn't that a shame." **The hollow said with a sick twisted grin across its face as Rukia looked up at it in shock. "**What?** **You think I couldn't hear you? Haha. My hearing's very sensitive you see. Even an ant couldn't make a move without me knowing it did. Haha. Once I've got a lock on a tasty meal then there's nothing that meal can do besides get in my mouth."**

"Sorry bub, but that's not going to happen. I would rather eat dirt then become a part of you." Rukia grimaced at the hollow, steady holding up her blade.

The hollow gave her an insane look of a man totally off of his head, "**Why are you talking like you have a choice?" **Rukia let out a gasp as she was forcefully pinned up against the wall by the silver-skinned hollow as it shot itself at Rukia like a slingshot firing off stones its wielder aimed at, "**Whoever heard of food talking? No one, that's who! Now come into my mouth and relish the opportunity of becoming a part of something greater."**

Rukia was completely immobile as the hollow pressed its vastly huger body up against Rukia's to keep the petite girl held against the wall with no way of moving her arms, "Something greater? Enlighten me hollow, what is the meaning of that?"

"**There's no point. Once I absorb you into my being you will know all about the boss' plan to cleanse this disgusting world of its unfair laws. The boss will right the wrongs of this world by ruling over it with an iron fist." **The hollow snarled.

"So it's world dominance you hollow-fiends desire eh." Rukia mustered up her best smirk at the hollow in an attempt to annoy the hollow, "Impossible. You'll all be stopped before you can even get anywhere dummy."

The hollow laughed malevolently, "**Oh really now, is that your final comeback. Good, because it goes without saying that the boss will be king of this world. He has it all planned out. Haha! But enough about that, it's time to feast on your soul and power, shinigami. You'll learn more of the boss' plan once I absorb you into my being. Welcome to your new home." **The hollow opened up its mouth, the acid-like saliva dripping off of its teeth, making Rukia feel ill as it dropped to the ground and burned a hole through it.

'Damn it. I can't move my arms to even perform a kido spell.' Rukia thought in desperation, wriggling her arms around in an attempt to break free as the hollow's tunnel of a mouth advanced in on her, its hand squeezing Rukia's throat which forced the girl to wheeze as she dropped her zanpakuto on the ground with a clatter, 'I guess this is the end for me. Kaien… it looks like I'll be joining you now. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.'

As Rukia thought her life was going to end right there and then, a brilliant bright flash of a golden light enveloped the area, leading Rukia to believe she was going to a heaven above the one she had come from known as the Soul Society. Her eyes immediately widened upon hearing the bloodcurdling scream from the hollow who looked set on eating her, but instead dropped her and cuddled its useless limp which had a drill-sized hole in it.

"**My arm, my arm, I can't feel my arm!" **The hollow screamed, frantically fretting over its useless right arm which hung loosely at its side without even bleeding despite the golf-like hole which was drilled into its arm by a mysterious light beam which came out of nowhere.

"What in the hell just happened. His arm just stopped moving." Rukia gaped.

"**Futsu no Ka dorirubīmu** **(Pressurizing Drilling Beam of Buddha)**," Rukia recoiled at the sound of the person's voice she had been searching for. She looked to the side to see Ichigo calmly walking towards them with his right index finger held out while his left hand held his samurai sword on his shoulder, "Whaddya know, a journey to Good Burger turns into a bail a lady out of a jam situation eh. Heh. Perhaps I should start going to work instead of school. At least I'm actually getting a workout going to work. No pun intended."

"Ichigo." Rukia said softly, too shocked by the power this boy kept showing her to make her voice any harsher.

The hollow looked at Ichigo angrily, "**YOU! What did you do to my arm you human?!"**

Ichigo let a smirk grace his features, 'That beam of light attacks the nerve system within the part of the body it was fired into, effectively shutting off the victim's limp temporarily. Cheers Chado. I owe ya one there.' Ichigo wisely kept that to himself, "Figure it out for yourself mincemeat for brains."

"**How dare you. You do not know who you're missing with human!" **The hollow growled.

"Hmph. Like I care who I'm dealing with, I've got better things to do with my time then to waste it playing around with a hollow," The hollow fumed at Ichigo while he looked at Rukia who hadn't taken her eyes off of him the entire time. "Hey, shinigami-lady, get your butt off of the ground and purify the bastard already."

Rukia snapped her head as if shaking off a stupor as she gripped her sword tightly, "Right."

"**NOOOOOOOOOOO!" **The tables were turned and the hollow was on the run as it pivoted around and conjured up a black vortex of sorts before leaping inside of it just as Rukia rose to her feet with her zanpakuto in hand to cleanse the hollow.

"Tch. Now it's scurrying away like a cockroach. Not on my watch dumbass." Ichigo said, Hirenkyaku-ing beside Rukia and gently grabbing her wrist that almost made her jump in surprise. Ichigo ignored Rukia's shock as he quickly rose her arm up and made her hack her zanpakuto at the hollow that disappeared into the hole before Rukia's zanpakuto could connect with it.

"Damn. The bitch got away," Ichigo mentioned crudely, letting go of Rukia's arm and fixing his concealed blade on his shoulder before venturing forward again.

"Wait a minute." Rukia commanded but Ichigo did not stop. Seeing this, Rukia growled and sprinted over to Ichigo, "Hey, stop! I've got a few questions I want you to answer _Mysterious-san_."

"Yeah I bet you have _Stalker-san. _What? Are you trying to join the paparazzi-clowns or what?_" _The rude-boy quipped, "I'd get a restraining order placed on your harassing ass, but for two reasons, one is I doubt the pigs would leave their donut shop to fix your tiny ass with the order, and two goes without saying; you have no ass."

Rukia gave Ichigo a strange look at his rant before regaining her calm demeanour, "I'm not as accustomed to your human culture. So it goes _without saying _that I'm not a stalker, hmph."

Ichigo kissed his teeth, 'It's just like the old man said, a shinigami will lose one's memories of one's former life when one was alive, but damn I didn't expect 'em to be lacking on basic knowledge on modern day society. The Soul Society sounds like the freaking stone age the more I dig into it, voluntarily or not.' Ichigo mused, referring to his father as old man.

Rukia coughed twice into her hand, "So as you can see Ichigo, I'm not going anyway until you tell me what you are. Then I can be sure you won't be a danger to the Soul Society."

"Gimme me a break dumbass, you just wanna nosy _up _in my business 'cause you find it exasperating an entity you were assigned to protect can whoop your sorry ass and leave it to bleed on the curb, eh. Tell me I'm not right. I dare you." Ichigo remarked crudely, not ceasing his stride to work.

Rukia crossed her arms over her chest and let out an 'hmph' noise cutely, "I don't know what you're talking about jerk." Rukia's eyes narrowed on Ichigo while the overwhelmingly powerful boy grunted in annoyance at her as he quickened his pace slightly.

Upon closer inspection of Ichigo, Rukia seen a semblance of someone who she held dear to herself, just switch the hair colour from orange to black and bingo, Ichigo could've been classed as his son.

'He may bear a striking resemblance to _him, _but he's nothing like _him._' Rukia thought as she subconsciously unfolded her arms and held her chest where her heart was, a saddened expression coming over her face which lasted a minute. 'Yes. He's nothing like him.' The strong-willed girl regained her look of determination with fire lighting up her pretty violet eyes, 'Even still, this boy referred to himself as an entity rather than a human when` he accused me of invading his business. What'd he mean by that? Just what kind of race is he from if he's not human?"

Rukia flinched slightly as Ichigo turned his ice-cold gaze onto her by shifting his head over his shoulder, "Ain't you got better dirt to be digging up other than tailing my ass?"

Rukia smirked cutely, "Oh I don't know. Why don't you enlighten me Ichigo? Since I haven't sensed the presence of a hollow needing to be purified, it seems like I've got nothing but time. So anytime you're ready you can spill the beans by revealing the race you originate from."

Ichigo looked ahead to where he was going while taking out his phone to check the time. The time was 17:55pm, his shift started in five minutes, "What about that bitch ass hollow who ran away with its tail between its legs once I turned up, eh. You think it won't show its ugly ass mask again after it's done informing its boss of its discovery, eh?"

Rukia's eyes widened in remembrance of the hollow's dialogue, "You overheard that?" Ichigo nodded his head, an expression betraying none of his thoughts on his face while Rukia cupped her chin with a pensive expression on her cute face. 'He makes a valid point. The hollows must be planning an infiltration on the World of the Living. If it even is a hollow assembling other hollows together for its plan that is. I have doubts that an ordinary hollow could bring together a mass of troops consisting of other hollows unless it's that _hollow." _

A class above all D-class hollows, high or low, a Menos grande. Just thinking about the gigantic hollow gave Rukia the shivers, knowing her power paled in comparison to that of a Menos grande's one. If a Menos grande had plans of raiding the living world, then they were all but done for. Unless the bane of Rukia's existence got his lazy butt up off of his seat and assisted her in assuring the safety of human souls in the World of the Living.

"Ichigo…" Rukia stopped herself mid-sentence from requesting Ichigo's help in the investigation of the hollow's words that its' king will rule the world as a pout of annoyance came over her face at seeing a ring of dust from Ichigo was, "Damn it. That fool took advantage of my musing to escape. Ugh. Why couldn't he have just waited for me to finish first before vanishing like that?"

XxX

(With Ichigo)

XxX

The orange haired youngster scratched his head irritably while coming near a blue and white building with a huge burger statue on the top of it. If one looked at the top of the burger-statue one would see ten white and blue signs, four blue ones on top, and six white ones at the bottom, all of which were placed atop of the burger-statue spelling out the words Good Burger.

Ichigo ventured into Good Burger's parking lot to walk into the back entrance of the fast food restaurant.

While he trudged on he thought about the reiatsu-signature he'd sensed right before he'd Hirenkyaku'd away from Rukia. The reiatsu-signature was on an B-class level but it didn't essentially mean the one with the B-class reserve of reiatsu was a B-class warrior. No. No. He was arguably stronger than Ichigo and possessed more experience than the orange haired man because of how long he had been in the game for. And for a goofy-guy, he had bags of tricks, and high intelligence which was how he became an A-class warrior despite his lack of reserves and physical strength he possessed.

The man was good friends with his dad, Isshin, to the point where Isshin saw him as a brother, which in return made his kids see the man as another uncle only on their father's side while Ryuken was a brother of their mother. The only reason why Ichigo didn't stop and say hello to his uncle was because he was late for work.

"…I can't believe I'm late for work." Ichigo groused, "The bastard's gonna love this, since he can rightly make me stay longer then I have to now."

As Ichigo walked over to the back entrance of the fast restaurant known as Good Burger, he stopped right by the door and instead looked at the side of it to bump fists with a tall muscular 'man', "Yo, Chado. You cool man?"

The boy, Yasutora Sado, or Chad as Ichigo and his friends called him, had a huge physique fit for a twenty year old man instead of a fifteen year old kid attending Karakura High School along with Ichigo. His bald head gleamed in the dimmed sun-light as his eyes were perpetually closed. A gold coin was wrapped around his neck on the end of a chain. He wore a light blue dress shirt tucked into a pair of black trousers matched by black shoes on his feet.

"Yes. I've been waiting for you for ten minutes now." Chad told him calmly, causing Ichigo to rub the back of his head awkwardly, a sheepish grin on his face.

"Y'know, you didn't have to make yourself late for me. I know you live on your own like me man. You need that dosh just as much as I do." Ichigo reasoned.

"Hmm. It's okay. You would've done the same for me." Chad assured with complete faith in his words directed at Ichigo, making the boy smile as he patted his giant friend on his shoulder.

"As if you even need to ask man," Ichigo's smile turned savage. "We're like the untouchable duo you and I. It's hard to believe we didn't like each other when we first met."

"People change Ichigo." Chad said wisely, "I too have changed since that day."

A frown marred Ichigo's face as a remembrance of his and Chad's past hit him, "Yeah. I didn't think we step outta the frying pan and into the boiling hot oven like that."

"Hmm. Agreed. But at least we stuck together." Chad looked on the bright side of things.

"Guess so," Ichigo mumbled as his frown deepened. Big Chad always had his back even if he didn't want it. His parents and his sisters liked him to; Karin even had Chad's number on speed dial in case she couldn't get a hold of Ichigo when guys were bothering her for one reason or the other she didn't care.

"Let's go in." Chad offered.

"After you man." Ichigo offered in return, walking into the building after Chad had done so, humming in acceptance to his comrade's words.

The smell of fried food penetrated Chad and Ichigo's senses as the two rounded the corner to retrieve their nametags and sign in, Ichigo stashing his sword away in his locker. Once they had signed in, the two were stopped half-way from getting to work by a smug voice which rang out in their ears.

"Hey, look who decided to show up for work today. The fearsome duo, Sado and Kurosaki," Ichigo didn't need to turn around to know who'd spoke up, but he did shift his head over his shoulder to stare at an obese man his height darkly.

The man wore a light pink dress-shirt tucked into his black pants, a dark pink tie, and black shoes on his feet. The light-skinned man was bald for the most part except for the bit of brown hair going around his head, (old-man style), a brown moustache and a brown goatee.

"Gimme a break, you're gonna make us work overtime regardless." Ichigo groused.

The man held his hands together below his waist and looked at Ichigo in a condescending manner, "And you think that's gives you the right to miss twenty minutes of work? I don't think you quite understand your position here at Good Burger, Ichigo-san. I, the boss, decide when you turn up for work. You, the employee, just turn up at the correct time of your shift. No ifs, buts, or ands about it. Got it?"

"You shouldn't talk. It makes you sound stupid." Ichigo stated with one of his hands stabbed into his pocket, his boss growling in annoyance at his smart-mouth before a smirk graced his ugly features.

"You're both getting a twenty per-cent deduction from your salaries for being late," The haughty fat man told the two, making rage appear in Ichigo's eyes as his hand balled into a fist, his nails threatening to break his skin due to the intensity of which Ichigo was digging his nails into his hand.

"WHAT-?"

"30%"

"You can't do th-."

"40%"

"Son of a bi-."

"50%"

"Argh. Now you're just lowering our pay-checks for no rea-."

"We can keep going at this all day, Kurosaki-san."

Ichigo growled with a furious expression on his face as blood finally leaked out of his hand, "Why you-."

This time it was Chad who interrupted him as he placed his hand firmly on Ichigo's chest. "It's fine Daichi-san. We accept the cuts in our pay-checks this time. I hope you accept our sincere apologises, sir."

Daichi chuckled in a superior manner while Ichigo tried to calm himself down before he did something rash like punch his boss in the belly, his massive belly, "You see that rookie. There's an employee who's looking to move up in the world. You could learn something from your _lover." _Daichi's grin widened at seeing Chad's frown and Ichigo's angry look.

"You done, Daichi?" Ichigo asked grumpily, finding it increasingly hard not to punch the arrogant look off of his fat boss' face.

Daichi wagged his index finger chidingly, "Ah, ah, ah, that's Daichi-san to you, rookie."

"Right. Daichi-san." Ichigo corrected with a twitching eyebrow. Daichi smiled smugly before the overweight man walked-past him superciliously, intentionally barging into Ichigo's shoulder as he did so, 'More like douchebag-san you bitch.' Ichigo added as an afterthought as he turned around and made a comical angry face to mock his bastard boss.

After the door to Daichi's office had closed with authority, Ichigo tussled his shoulders like a hard-man, "God I hate that guy. I swear his rear-end's got a bulleye on it 'cause it's just begging me to slam my foot up his ass, all the way up his ass." A solid grip on his shoulder got him to relax slightly.

"Don't let him get underneath your skin. Karma will see to it that Daichi gets what's coming to him. Those who are bad will get their just desserts, but those who are good will get rewarded for their selfless acts," Chad quoted. It sounded like he had experienced a dish of karma.

"Righttttt," Ichigo drawled out with a tentative grin on his face. "Whatever you say, man, but I'm not seeing the hand of karma reach down from above to give the bitch his just desserts. Tch. He'll probably greedily shove the dessert in his mouth. Don't you see the size of his stomach? I swear it looks like he's expecting triplets."

Chad let a small smile grace his features.

"It's karma, Ichigo."

A jesting grin spread itself across Ichigo's face.

"Right. It's totally karma Chado."

xXx

(Daichi's Office)

xXx

"Ouch! Shit!" Daichi released a groan of pain as he held the shoulder he used to barge into Ichigo after walking into his small office, "What in the hell is that kid made out of, a brick wall? I nearly dislocated my shoulder just colliding with him." Daichi took a couple of deep breaths and massaged his shoulder to ease the bruising it had suffered from hitting into Ichigo's muscular one.

Daichi walked over to his desk and sat on his wheelie chair before hoisting his feet onto his desk and folding his arms behind his head leisurely, "Ahhhhh! I'm going to need a massage from the wife when I get home that's for sure."

* * *

**The next chapter's coming up after one more quick beta read since I've check it over about three times already. Please make sure to always leave a review, I'm the Leader of Monkeys, and I'm not signing off just as yet. **


	4. The Untouchables

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. If I did I would've killed the fucking Vizords a long time ago. **

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**The Untouchables**

The whole building establishment wasn't too bad looking. The employees mainly consisted of kids Ichigo's age since the man didn't pay more than the actual minimum wage simple jobs like this one usually paid. And for good reason too. He didn't have to pay taxes, and in return either did his employees, which was definitely a win-win for Ichigo and Chad, who both didn't have much money to spend anyway.

The flooring was similar to that of kitchen floor tiles and was blue and white like the chairs and the tables were blue and white respectively. There were a few elevated tables with long stools for people who felt more comfortable eating from a high place.

The counter was blue and only had one cash-register on it which often meant Ichigo had to serve quickly otherwise he would have a queue of people lined up waiting to get served.

The sound of a bell echoed through the air, signifying the arrival of customers. Three kids whom looked about Yuzu and Karin's age strolled through the door while chuckling to themselves as they noticed Ichigo.

'I bet someone any money that they're just another bunch of smartass brats,' Ichigo reflected as the kids made their way over to the counter, "Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger, can I take your order?" Ichigo groused the motto of the restaurant lackadaisically.

One of the kids spoke up, chuckling as he did so, "How old are you?"

"Is that any of your damn business?" Ichigo growled brashly.

Another kid spoke up, "You look about fifteen."

Ichigo drummed his fingers on the counter, giving the kids an irritated look, "Is this going anywhere?"

The kid that hadn't spoken burst out laughing, "Is he as well. What a loser. I'll never end up working in a dump like this."

Ichigo looked at the three of them darkly, "Oh really now, okay hotshot. Entertain me. Where will you end up in life, eh? Lemme guess, tubby here wants to be a sumo wrestler. Skinny boy thinks he's got what it takes to be a rock-star. And girly-boy is aiming to be a professional soccer player. How's that? Am I hitting the ball here?" Ichigo quipped as he pointed at the kids in respective order, making them stare at him owlishly.

"Yo, this man's tripping." The supposed future soccer-player said.

"He's probably just jealous of our mad skills, or he's just cranky because he can't get any pussy." The tubby boy spoke up arrogantly, "Too bad he's not me. I got two girls in Yuzu and Karin Kurosaki. Both twins as well." He sent a wink at Ichigo, looking too smug.

Ichigo slammed his hands down on the counter, surprising the boys at the insane reaction from the orange haired mad-older boy. The veins on Ichigo's wrists became visible as a murderous expression found its way to his face, "You bastard! You stay away from them!" Ichigo was ready to march around to beat the hell out of the frightened boys who quickly took the initiative to get the heck out of the restaurant as Chad stood in front of Ichigo and blocked his path to the kids.

"Just ignore them Ichigo. You know what kids are like. They're probably desperate to impress your sisters. I've known Karin and Yuzu since they were little. I can tell those boys aren't their types," Chad said in a bid to ease Ichigo's temper, Ichigo fuming as Chad removed his hand off of his chest.

"You know beating them up isn't going to solve anything. So why try, right?" The stoic-boy asked rhetorically, as he went back to overseeing the fries which were still frying nicely in the deep fryer.

Ichigo huffed indignantly, "Yeah I know man. But it would sure make it easier if it did though. I swear kids are getting cheekier by the minute."

"Kurosaki, did you just scare away more customers?" Great. And now he'd his overweight boss to deal with. Because that was exactly what Ichigo wanted to do at that point in time.

Is anyone for sarcasm?

"No boss-man." Ichigo assured lazily, placing his elbow on the counter to rest his cheek on his hand.

"Hmph. At least you know your place rookie. Keep up the good work and you may get to use the bathroom for free." Daichi shouted from his office.

"Yeah, that's great. Because I so didn't wanna use the alleyway to let the dogs out," Ichigo remarked sarcastically, keeping his voice low so his boss wouldn't hear him. As the minutes rolled on, a couple of more customers came into the shop which Ichigo served, being as polite as he could despite his languid demeanour.

Another yawn escaped Ichigo's mouth as a similar reiatsu-signature caught his senses. He had been keeping tabs on it for a while now, mentally smirking as it wondered around his home area of Bowery before finally coming here. The person took long enough as the sun had finally completed its descent behind the horizon and was replaced by the silvery moon.

Chad looked at the door, "You feel that? That's a reiatsu-signature of a shinigami."

"Yeah." Ichigo agreed languidly, closing his eyes as the sound of bell ringing echoed through the air to signal the arrival of a customer.

Rukia stood at the door, wearing a pretty baby blue dress with a cute picture of a bunny rabbit stitched into the corner, the dress falling to her ankles. She also had on a pair of black high heels on her feet and a black handbag dangling off of her shoulder. Chad thought the girl looked cute and naturally liked her because he had a soft spot for cute things.

As she stood there, staring at Chad with a shocked expression on her pretty face, she almost gasped from the amount of sheer reiatsu radiating from Big Chad, 'What in the hell? If his reiatsu was tripled it could rival Ichigo's! His reiatsu reserves have to be on a high B-class level at the very least! How can there be entities this powerful in the World of the Living?' And Chad wasn't the only one the girl had sensed.

She picked up others around a low C-class and D-class levels. It wasn't as shocking as Chad's power, but they were still pretty aweing in their own rights.

Initially, she had been wandering around Bowery trying to pinpoint Ichigo's reiatsu-signature who was doing a good job at concealing his S-class reserves of power, but picked up the big man's one upon getting back to Bowery. At first she had thought that Ichigo had lowered his power to allow her to feel it, but scratched that off once she realized the scent of the reiatsu she was sensing was entirely different to Ichigo's.

The only reason why she tailed it here was because the petite adorable looking girl thought it was highly convenient for two reiatsu-signatures above C-class level to be in the same area, Bowery, and sought to see if that one had a connection with Ichigo.

Her suspicions may be proven right.

As Rukia ventured near the counter, she was caught off-guard by what Ichigo said as if the orange haired powerhouse could read her mind, "Did uncle Hat-and-clogs give ya those?"

"Uncle Hat-and-Clogs? Wait, do you mean that fool Kisuke?" Rukia asked, causing a mischievous smirk to spread across Ichigo's face.

"Oh I dunno, why don't you enlighten me princess," Ichigo quipped tauntingly, causing Rukia to growl at him as she crossed her arms over her chest and begin to relay her meeting with Ichigo's supposed uncle after the orange haired rude-boy had left her.

XxX

(Flashback)

_Rukia calmed herself down to think where to find Ichigo, "He did say he was heading to work. Just where is this 'Good Burger' he spoke of when he scared off that hollow." Rukia was rattling her brain to figure out where Ichigo's workplace could be. It was for this reason why she was startled by a smooth voice which echoed from behind her. _

"_Ahh. It seems you're in quite the pickle. Might I offer my assistance to you?" After Rukia had jumped in shock at hearing the relaxed voice, she spun around to glance at a fairly tall lean built man with pale-skin. His blond wavy hair was concealed by a green and white striped hat on his head which in return casted a perpetual shadow over his eyes. He had on a dark green kimono jacket held closed by a black obi around his waist matched by green pants. A brown, white diamond-patterned haori was thrown over his kimono jacket with a unique symbol on the back and a pair of wooden sandals was on his feet._

_Rukia's attention was draw to the cane in the man's hand. She could sense power radiating from the cane as if it had a mine of its own but was also a part of Kisuke's essence._

"_You must be a shinigami." Rukia stated. _

"_Bingo, I think the little lady deserves a prize." The bucket-shaped wearing hat man complimented with a huge grin on his face which he discovered by taking a fan out of his jacket and holding it in front of his face._

"_I take it you must be here because you sensed that hollow's presence." Rukia guessed, carefully watching the strange man's grin slip from his face and be replaced by a serious look instead. _

"_Precisely," The green-clad man said, "Though it seems like I was a little too late to stop it from getting away."_

"_Indeed you were." Rukia replied calmly, "Who are you? Why would the Gotei 13 send another shinigami to town for? I'm quite capable of purifying some fries myself you know."_

"_I'm sure you are." The blond haired man assured coolly, causing Rukia to pout. "But as I'm sure you are aware of the fact that__ was no normal hollow."_

"_Yes. I'm still getting bad vibes from it even after Ichigo scared it away. I believe the hollows may be planning an infiltration on the World of the Living. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this would you?" Rukia asked the man. _

"_Well now, whatever makes you think that my dear, as I'm only a mere humble shopkeeper with a knack for creating interesting devices." He smiled widely, the fan concealing it from Rukia's view, who rolled her eyes at him. _

"_Yeah right. What do you take me for, a fool?" Rukia spat and the man laughed nervously._

"_Well allow me to introduce myself. The name's Kisuke Urahara. I just thought you would be interested in some fine merchandise my good lady." The now known Kisuke said casually. _

"_Rukia Kuchiki." Rukia introduce herself, "And what kind of merchandise are you offering me if you don't mind me asking?"_

"_Not at all Kuchiki-san. It's just a little something I thrown together. It'll help you blend in and interact with humans while you try and convince Kurosaki-san to help you with this predicament. He can be a valuable asset or your worst enemy," Kisuke explained darkly, making Rukia widen her eyes. _

"_You know Ichigo, and you have a gigai?" Rukia asked. _

_Kisuke pivoted on his heels, "Something of that nature Kuchiki-san." He half confirmed in a cryptic manner, "Come along now, you're going to need to blend in with the other humans if you want to get Kurosaki-san's attention. Otherwise he'll just ignore you if you can't offer him a good fight. So up and Adams so I can sell you that gigai Kuchiki-san," Kisuke said gleefully._

_Rukia nodded her head, suppressing a groan of annoyance at Kisuke's innuendo. It seemed no one wanted to tell her the whole truth, 'At least this idiot told me he's a shinigami. And now I can get a gigai from him to. I don't know what's going on, but it looks like I'm going to need Ichigo's help whether I like it or not.'_

XxX

(End of Flashback)

"Yep, that's uncle Hat-and-Clogs for ya." Ichigo laughed cheerfully, causing Rukia to bristle.

"Damn it. I knew that fool had a connection with you and he still wouldn't tell me." Rukia raged.

Ichigo wiped a tear from his eye from chuckling so insanely, the other customers watching him like he was on drugs as he did so, "Yeah. He's a bundle of mysteriousness. You'll have to go full on bad cop, and interrogate his ass to dig up any dirt on him." Ichigo told the fuming girl. "But hey, at least you got that shell and Barbie dress from him so people can see you, otherwise I probably would've blanked ya until my shift was over."

"Yes, Kisuke told me how stubborn you can be." Rukia said, pouting at Ichigo's description of her gigai and dress, mostly her dress, because it was a beautiful dress with a picture of Chappy the rabbit on it, not a Barbie dress, whatever the hell that was, "So I can take it your friend is spiritually aware?"

Ichigo jerked his thumb at Sado, "Who? Chado? Yeah, he has been since we were ten during the days when I couldn't turn off the tap, and he ended up getting drenched with my reiatsu," Ichigo elucidated wittily, keeping his voice down so the other customers wouldn't hear him.

"I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't start seeing ghosts and hollows around about three months of hanging around Ichigo," Chad followed up on Ichigo's explanation humbly, giving the girl a bow of respect.

"You leaked all of that reiatsu when you were younger, huh? You must've been under intense strain Ichigo. Did mommy have to kiss you good night when you went to sleep?" Rukia smirked teasingly, her sated smile immediately vanishing as Ichigo let out a cocky chuckle.

"Nah. I didn't even feel anything back then to tell ya the truth." Ichigo grinned barbarically, widening it once he heard Rukia gulp whether the girl wanted to or not.

'Incredible. To have so much reiatsu that his body didn't even feel the strain of it consistently pouring out of his body is a rarity even among the shinigami who are captains, all A-class warriors. Even nii-sama would be hard pressed to defeat Ichigo.' Rukia reflected. At least she knew she'd picked a capable partner in dealing with hollows, namely the one which had escaped earlier.

"Kurosaki-san, what's with all of that ruckus out there?" Rukia was snapped out of her thoughts by a stern voice before an overweight man came stomping from around the corner. Looking at Ichigo, she could tell the orange haired boy didn't like the man as his expression was even crankier than before.

"Nothing sir, just serving this lady," Ichigo fought to suppress the groan of exasperation from escaping his mouth as he spoke to his boss lackadaisically, making a lecherous smirk appear on Daichi's face as he turned to glance at the cute black haired lady. Despite being married, Daichi found Rukia to be really attractive.

"Well, well, you never informed me that we had such a cute customer, Kurosaki-san?" Ichigo let a cocky grin spread across his face at his perverted boss while Rukia faked a blush on her cheeks, cupping her cheek with her hand and swaying her hips from side to side cutely.

"Well thank you kind sir." Rukia thanked him pleasantly, causing Daichi to hum lewdly while not noticing the panicked look on the face of one of his employees.

Daichi leaned his elbow on the counter, looking at Rukia with a lecherous eye while Ichigo smirked, "Hmm, mmm. You come here often sweetheart?"

"I only recently moved around here. It's been hard for me to get by because I'm low on money," Rukia lied expertly, mentally smirking how easy it was to fool this man into thinking she was just innocent poor woman who needed a break.

"Aw. I'm sorry to hear that. Kurosaki." Daichi snapped authoritatively.

"Yes boss." Ichigo replied legitimately, picturing a chibi version of himself doing a victory dance in his head as his boss continued to chat Rukia up.

Daichi took out a notepad from his front pocket and began scribbling something on it that had the panicked customer cursing underneath his breath, "Get the little lady anything she wants, it's on the house." He winked cheekily at Rukia, receiving a feigned smile from the woman before he handed her a paper after ripping it off of his notepad. He lipped the words, "Call me," to a befuddled Rukia, then walked back into his office.

"Well that was rather interesting. But I think I rather enjoyed fooling him like that." Rukia smirked, flinching abruptly at the sound of a dropped bucket. She looked to see a freckled faced boy of Ichigo's age of fifteen reach into his pocket and pull out a wad of bills, two sets of bills precisely, and reach his arm over the counter to give them to a sated Ichigo and a stoic Chad.

"Wow. Lady Luck was singing my tune tonight!" Ichigo remarked cheerfully, tucking the money into his pocket while Chad hummed appreciatively at the boy.

"You got lucky. I could've sworn the fat bastard would've cherished his wife since I can't see him getting anyone else if she dumps him." The freckled faced boy groaned exasperatedly, picking up the mop and mop bucket lazily, "I guess beggars can be choosers."

"Better luck next time Isamu." Ichigo grinned goofily.

"Yeah, yeah," Isamu said as he walked off to the mop the bathroom-floor in a dejected manner, as Ichigo looked at Rukia to see the girl smirking at him.

"Having fun with your friend Ichigo?" Rukia asked.

"Hmph. Hardly," Ichigo rebutted her grumpily, showing her the wad of bills he won off of Isamu one time before shoving it back into his pocket, "The three of us placed a bet to see if the boss wouldn't chase after another pair of legs in a dress if one walked in despite being married. You can guess which one me and Chad bet on since we won 4879.50 yen each off of that chump," Ichigo fisted Chad's knuckles absently, chuckling satisfyingly.

"Gambling, the devil's greed," Rukia looked unimpressed at the lads.

"Whatever." Leave it to this stuck in the mud to ruin all their fun, "When you bide by your own rules, paying for your own bills, sometimes you gotta look for other ways to make ends-meat for yourself." Rukia rolled her eyes at Ichigo while the boy decided to put on his serious face at last. The trolling was over.

"So are you gonna tell me the real reason why you're scooping around this dump, or what? I doubt uncle Hat-and-Clogs would've came down here just 'cause a weak-ass hollow showed up here." Ichigo murmured, but the opening of the door stopped any explanation Rukia would've given him. Instead the two boys and Rukia turned incredulous eyes onto a shady looking hooded figure standing at 202cm tall giving off an eerie feeling which told the other customers not to look at him.

"That guy… I feel his malevolence flowing through the air. We should keep our guards up," Chad advised, getting nods from Rukia and Ichigo who were both on edge from this mysterious man's entrance. He neither said nor did anything other than staring at the ground as if it were the most interesting thing to look at.

As the three tried to sense the man's reiryoku-signature, the life-force of which all humans have in one-way or the other, they were left puzzled by the empty feeling the man emitted, knowingly or not. It didn't even feel like the man was suppressing his reiatsu-signature, he just felt like a black void. It was as if the man simply didn't exist in despite of the fact he was standing right there a distance away from the counter.

'This is preposterous. Every living creature as far as I know has some form of reiryoku within them. Yet this man or thing doesn't even the slightest ounce of reiryoku. Just what in the hell is he?' Rukia stressed, carefully studying him from where she was standing. 'Could he be the cause of that sudden hollow attack earlier? It's likely. I'll have to keep my guard up around him.'

The hooded figure cut the tension like a hot knife through butter as he slowly treaded closer to Rukia and the boys, making it look like a casual stroll in the park. Ichigo's hands rested on the counter, his Quincy-cross dangling from his wrist as the man finally made it to him and the others.

"Welcome to Good Burger, Home of the Good Burger, Can I take your order?" If the situation didn't appear so grave Rukia might've giggled at the cute sounding motto the orange haired entity muttered like he didn't give a damn, because he really didn't.

The man robotically raised his head up, the pupils of his eyes gleaming a dark crimson red colour as he got a look of Ichigo's nametag. This got a flinch out of Rukia, grit of the teeth from Ichigo, and a troubled hum from Chad. But as he spoke up, his voice sounded smooth and a hint of politeness was evident in it as if he were a gentleman.

"Indeed. I take your _finest _order, Kurosaki-san. With extra sauce of an _S-class_ level…"

* * *

4879.50 yen = 50 dollars

* * *

Character Profile 

Name: Ichigo Kurosaki

Age: 15

Nationality: Japanese

Likes: His sisters, his mamma, smoking, drinking, skipping school, fighting, listening to music, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Gambling

Dislikes: Cowards, People who fight without honour, Relying on other people, School, Thugs, Daichi, Uryu, His landlord, Isshin (sometimes), People who think they can tell him what to do, Teachers, The Pigs (The Police), Hollows

Rivals: Uryu, Tatsuki, (friendly)

Bio: Ichigo Kurosaki is a young delinquent boy whom had his life twisted upside down one night when he was coming home from karate class with his mother. This was the night of which he was first introduced to the supernatural side of the world. He could honestly say running into a hollow, and watching his mother almost die protecting him was a terrifying experience. If it weren't for his uncle Ryuken who was passing by at the time, his mother would've died right there and then.

He hated being that weak and wanted his uncle to make him strong. It took a lot for Ichigo to convince his stubborn uncle to train him. He had to run laps around Karakura Town under his father's watchful eye and even endured the freezing cold blizzard of winter before the white haired man finally chose to turn Ichigo into the Quincy/aura-using-warrior he is as of today.

From there he met his cousin Uryu, Ryuken's son. The two quickly became the best of friends and would often train and laugh together as if the two were brothers instead of cousins. Both even agreed to spare hollows after battering them around after Uryu discovered that the Quincies were the cause of their own downfall and told Ichigo the same story. But as Ichigo's dormant powers started to develop, Uryu became more distant from him.

It wasn't long until Ichigo met Chad at age ten; the two naturally hated each other like a lion and a tiger and would fight each other until the cows come home.

Ichigo won all of his fights against Chad since his reiatsu enhanced his muscles, leaving Chad undoubtedly frustrated until one day a group of hollows ambushed him. Ichigo showed up to back him up. The two were overwhelmed by the sheer number of hollows, and would've been absorbed into their beings if it weren't for Ichigo's father, Isshin, who showed up to save them both.

Isshin explained because the two were around each other so much, Chad subconsciously ended up absorbing some of Ichigo's reiatsu and became spiritually aware because of this. Chad then trained to awaken his newfound powers while becoming friends with Ichigo since the boy came to his aid when he needed it most.

He left Japan with his grandfather though before he could awaken his dormant powers and returned many years later far more powerful and wiser than ever before.

Uryu eventually drifted away from Ichigo until the boy became his arch enemy/rival. Uryu even stopped giving a damn about hollows, choosing to eradicate them from existence instead of letting them live for a shinigami to offer them a chance at redemption. He wanted Ichigo to do the same but the honourable boy refused profusely, proceeding to anger his cousin. Uryu then vowed to defeat Ichigo for the honour of the Quincy when his traitor of a cousin chose to rely on his aura instead of his complete Quincy-powers.

After Chad had left Japan, Ichigo moved in with his uncle to get away from his family to avoid putting his sisters and mamma in danger. Once he turned fourteen, Ichigo got himself an apartment in Bowery, and was reunited with his friend Chad who was far more different than he ever remembered him before.

* * *

Character Profile

Name: Uryu Ishida

Age: 16

Nationality: Japanese

Like: Knitting, Quiet walks on the bench, His Quincy-heritage, reading

Dislikes: Kurosaki, noisy people, hoodlums, shinigami, hollows, Ryuken, Isshin

Rivals: Ichigo

Bio: A young descendant of the Quincy-race that goes by the name of Uryu Ishida. Having idolised his grandfather and father at the tender age of eight, Uryu made up his mind to follow in their footsteps and make them proud by becoming a Quincy. His destiny to become a Quincy-warrior was solidified once his grandfather told him the story of the Quincies' downfall by the hands of the shinigami. At first he was horrified that the shinigami could be so heartless, but quickly understood once his grandfather told him the Quincy-warriors of two hundred years ago relentlessly slaughtered hollows, disrupting the balance of souls between the Soul Society and the World of the Living.

His grandfather

Uryu knew his grandfather liked the shinigami-warriors, and wanted to find a way for shinigami-warriors and Quincy-warriors to work together, which was originally the reason why the boy chose to become a Quincy under his granderfather's watchful eye. It wasn't until he turned eleven that he witnessed his grandfather surrounded by a bunch of bloodthirsty hollows.

Uryu watched his grandfather get ruthlessly annihilated by the hollows before a single shinigami even showed up in the vicinity to do away with them. And it changed him. He stopped caring about keeping the balance and chose to ruthlessly slaughter any hollow who dared to show its ugly face in the living world. Uryu took a lot of his anger out on his cousin, Ichigo. Uryu blamed Ichigo for not being there to rescue their grandfather with the huge reserve of reiatsu he had, but Ichigo knew he was just trying to pinpoint the blame onto someone else to avoid coming to the conclusion that he was too weak to save their grandfather.

Since that day, Uryu had wanted more but to see Ichigo die.

* * *

Character Profile

Name: Yasutora Sado

Nicknames: Chad and Chado

Ag: 15

Nationality: Part Mexican, part Chinese.

Likes: Animals, Ichigo and his family, Meditating, Healthy meals, His fellow brethren at the Shaolin Temple, Cute things (like Rukia, babies, and teddy bears for instance), Relaxing music, likes one TV show known as Carnivore Kingdom and even owns the entire series on DVDs, Fighting, Flowers.

Dislike: Unhealthy meals, Those who abuse their power to hurt others, Liars, Triads, Spoiled children.

Rivals: None

Bio: A descendant of both a Chinese woman and a Mexican man. Chad's father came from Mexican to China seeking a better life after his mother died, leaving him and his father alone in Mexico. In China, he met Yasutora's mother and the two grew to have feelings for each other which eventually turned into love. Sometime after conceiving Chad, the two fled China to Japan to get away from the Triads in the fear that they would one day corrupt Yasutora to join them. When Chad turned seven, he was forced into an orphanage when a police officer came around to his house and informed him that his parents had died in a tragedy car accident.

This left Yasutora heartbroken and depressed. He coped with the pain of loneliness by beating up the other kids in the orphanage using his unnatural size to his advantage. It wasn't until Yasutora came across Ichigo at age ten that the huge boy tasted his first very defeat, a cycle which repeated itself again, and again, and again, and again until Ichigo, one day, after another beat-down of Yasutora, asked him why were they fighting for, to which Yasutora admitted that he didn't know. He just liked fighting, as if it was in his blood to fight.

Ichigo purposed that they team up and batter other kids and even grown men twice their sizes, something of which Chad agreed to. The two formed something of a dangerous alliance as they fought anyone who even looked at them wrong. They were lucky not to be thrown in a juvenile detention centre since many of times did Ichigo and Yasutora find themselves on the receiving end of a chase by the pigs (the cops).

Of course Yasutora became curious why Ichigo was so powerful that even grown men feared taking on the boy. The parents of the kids Chad and Ichigo beat-up came looking for the duo and were easily K.O'D (knocked-out) by Ichigo. How? It wasn't like the boy had a massive physique like him.

Yasutora soon found why when he started picking up the presences of other people in the area. He would always look around himself, but could see nothing but blurs. He asked Ichigo about it and the boy lied, not wanting to make himself look crazy to his new partner in crime. The lie almost cost Yasutora his life that day when hollows attacked him, but Ichigo backed him up and was pummelled into submission by the hollows like Yasutora until his father turned up to save their asses.

Ichigo came clean to Yasutora, telling him all about the heartless beings known as hollows stalking the World of the Living looking for humans or human souls to feast on, but fortunately get slayed or purified by what his father was, a shinigami. It all depended on whether the hollow was deemed pure enough to pass on to Soul Society; otherwise they were going to hell for all eternality.

A shocked Yasutora even got the low down on the Quincies' backstory, and why Ichigo chose to become one which reinstated his loss trust in his friend. Feeling sorry for Yasutora, Isshin took the orphaned child in for two months until his grandfather came in contact with him from Mexico.

Oscar was shocked that Yasutora was orphaned at such a young age having fallen out with his son, Yasutora's father many years ago. After a thorough examination of Yasutora's life, Oscar came to the conclusion that Ichigo was corrupting Yasutora. He saw Ichigo as a bad influence on Yasutora and took the boy away to his roots, China.

Oscar was determined to teach Yasutora that he didn't need to use his fists to hurt others, because he would only spread hate that way. But Yasutora wouldn't listen to him and rebelled against his grandfather for taking him away from his best friend Ichigo. Unfortunately for Yasutora, he got himself in trouble with the triads who wanted to kill Yasutora for attacking one of them.

Oscar managed to track down Yasutora when the triads had the boy cornered and offered them an alternative. They kill him and let Chad go. Yasutora was stunned that his grandfather would go to the extreme to protect him, and tried to protest but his grandfather told him that it was alright. He told Yasutora how he was a young boy who was still yet to live while he was an old man just waiting to die anyway.

The triads accepted Oscar's terms and gave the old man one last moment with his grandson to which Oscar gave Yasutora a gold coin as a memento and a note to tell him where to go after his death. Yasutora apologised profusely, telling his grandfather how he would never use his fists useless it was to protect himself and others.

Oscar smiled at the crying boy, telling him that his word was enough before the triads laid waste to the man right in front of his grandson.

Yasutora had never opened his eyes since seeing his grandfather's horrific murder by the hands of the triads.

The cops did nothing and Chad grew to resent for them for that but tried not to.

With nowhere else to go, Yasutora obeyed the paper of his grandfather's last words and came upon a shaolin temple after being helped by an old lady since the boy refused to open his eyes. It was there where the boy discovered that he had an uncle, a brother of his mum's.

His uncle felt sorry for him and took him under his wing, training the boy in the ways of Buddha and teaching him how to be merciful. It was something that Oscar wanted and was the reason why he took Chad back to China in the first place. When Yasutora turned thirteen, he became an official monk by having his hair shaved off. By then he had grown skilful enough to rely on his sense of smell and hearing to tell where he was going. By fourteen years old, his powers started to manifest themselves. A little worried what his follow monks would think of him, Yasutora left the temple and returned to Japan where Ichigo's family welcomed him with open arms.

He got himself an apartment near Ichigo's, and told the boy all about his experiences in China. Ichigo was naturally shocked and offered his consolations to Chad, telling the boy that he would be there for him if he needed it which Chad accepted and assured Ichigo that he'd have his back whether he liked it or not.


End file.
